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Brief Synopsis

An aging couple separate during a mid-life crisis.

After 14 years, the childless marriage of Maria and Richard Forst has started to disintegrate. Frustrated by the approach of middle age, unable to communicate on anything more than a superficial level, and no longer comforted by their material possessions, they have begun to look elsewhere for emotional reassurance. One evening, after Maria has rejected Richard's physical advances, Richard abruptly announces that he wants a divorce and, in the presence of his wife, phones a prostitute, Jeannie Rapp, for a date. Jeannie consents, though by this time she and her friend are entertaining two out-of-town clients. Richard arrives at Jeannie's apartment, and following an ugly scence with one of the clients she gets rid of her guests and permits Richard to spend the night. Maria, meanwhile, has gone to a discotheque with three other discontented wives. Encouraged by the attentions of the fun-loving Chet, the women invite him back to Maria's home. During the party that ensues, Maria watches with mixed emotions as her friends compete for the young man's attentions, but once she is alone with Chet, she responds to his playful lovemaking. When Chet awakens the next morning, he finds Maria unconscious from an overdose of sleeping tablets. He helps her recover, then hears Richard returning home--following a pleasant breakfast with Jeannie--and impulsively leaps out of the bedroom window, hops off the first-story roof, and races across the lawn. Richard observes the escape, and now face to face with Maria, he expresses his hurt by hurling insults at her; she retaliates by flatly stating that she no longer loves him. Finally, emotionally exhausted, they sit in numbed silence on the hallway stairs. With nothing left to say to each other, they separate and walk into different parts of the house.